…The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly…who,at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold souls who knew neither victory nor defeat - Theodore Roosevelt

By responsibility I mean an 'ability to respond' to the demands of the sport with a growing sense of ownership, autonomy and self-regulation

The concept of P.R.I.D.E is fundamental in this - a Personal Responsibility In Developing Excellence.

The basic equation is this:

The greater the personal responsibility we take in our own learning and development AND for the associated behaviours, outcomes and results, the greater the 'cause' we build to fight for when we step onto the match court.

Not only this, we build a much greater sense of self-efficacy, confidence and belief.

Examples of how you can begin to take more P.R.I.D.E:

come to each lesson with your own agenda of what you'd like to work on with your coach

set up your own practice sets/hits

monitor your own levels of effort/attitude - don't alway rely on the coach to bring the energy/motivation!

develop your own competitive programme to present to your coach/parents

take care of your own pre and post match/training prep

set you own goals, pack you own bag, fill up your own water bottle in the morning, make your own lunch

travel to a tournament on your own (when old enough) by train or bus

reflect on your matches/training (use a whats app group with your team)

research the internet for useful tips/information

know your sport/industry - how does the ATP/WTA tour work? What are the levels? Get to junior Wimbledon and see!

Research how to get into US/GB University tennis

The list goes on and on! Players, if you are fully reliant on your parents/coaches for these things, you are not developing Responsibility or any sense of 'becoming the captain of your own ship' and you're very unlikely to develop the GRIT required for top level sport.

Coaches and parents. A word for us. If we keep 'doing stuff' and 'rescuing' our players/kids we'll never give them the chance to take responsibility.

Invite CHOICE in your athletes/children. Telling does not engage any grey matter!!

Everyball with Mike James

Hello and a thanks for visiting my blog - a platform for my views, musings and observations through my work as a Performance Coach and Coach Education Tutor, Author (of the book, 'Everyball - Reflections, anecdotes and observations from a life in tennis aimed to tool you up for the game of life!') and motivational speaker.
You may be looking for the home sites of Everyball Tennis, Halton Tennis Centre and CHILDS (The Chiltern Institute of Learning, Development and Sport) all of which I am closely involved in. You'll find these in the links below.
For my own personal 'service' offerings, please click on the coachingbymike link.
Thanks a lot and look forward to being in touch!